Appliances Specs Explained

The yellow EnergyGuide label shows a model's estimated yearly energy cost, where it sits among similar models and its yearly kWh use, all set by an FTC rule.

A freestanding range has finished sides and a backguard with the controls, while a slide-in range has front controls and sits between cabinets.

Watts show how much power a blender draws, not how well it blends; under 600 watts suits shakes, while frozen fruit and nut butter need 1,000 watts and up.

A bread machine's loaf size is the finished loaf's weight, usually 1, 1.5 or 2 pounds; most machines bake up to 2 pounds and offer smaller sizes by button.

A chest freezer opens from the top and uses less energy, an upright opens like a fridge and is easier to organize; ENERGY STAR puts them at $30 and $60 a year.

Drip machines brew a pot, pour over gives hand control, a French press steeps coarse grounds and cold brew steeps for hours; carafe cups are often 5 ounces.

Gas burns a flame, radiant electric heats a coil or glass, and induction heats the pan with a magnetic field; ENERGY STAR rates induction near 85% efficient.

Deep fryers are sized by the oil they hold, from about 4 cups in a small fryer to 5 quarts in a family model; more oil means bigger batches and more to buy.

Most dishwashers are 24 or 18 inches wide, and the dBA number is how loud they run; Bosch calls 48 dBA or lower quiet, and lower is quieter.

A semi-automatic machine leaves grinding, tamping and shot timing to you, a super-automatic does it all with a button, and capsule and lever models fill gaps.

A freezer bowl ice cream maker is cheap but needs its bowl frozen first, a compressor model chills itself for batch after batch, and others spin a frozen base.

A centrifugal juicer shreds produce against a fast spinning basket in seconds; a masticating (cold press) juicer crushes it slowly and handles greens better.

A full-size kegerator takes one half barrel keg (15.5 gallons, about 165 12-ounce beers) or two slim kegs; check the cabinet against keg height and diameter.

Microwave size is the cavity volume in cubic feet and wattage is the cooking power; most listings fall between 1.0 and 1.9 cubic feet and 800 to 1,199 watts.

Refrigerator size is the inside volume in cubic feet; a common rule is 4 to 6 cubic feet per adult, and the door style decides how that space is laid out.

Slow cookers are sized in quarts; Hamilton Beach rates its 4-quart model for 4 or more people, 6-quart for 7 or more and 8-quart for 10 or more.

Wine coolers are sized by bottle count and width, a dual zone model holds two temperatures, and a compressor cools lower than a thermoelectric unit.

The bar number on an espresso machine is the pump's rating, not the pressure at the coffee; one maker says its 15-bar machines extract at around 9 bar.